Customer Reviews

The Ghost and Lady Alice

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Marion Chesney travels from her norm, to delight and entertain a rakish ghost! While he's enjoying being brought back from the dead, he promises to return the favor of scullery maid Alice, by helping her to become a lady of quality. Attempted murder, subsequent romance and outrageous humor abound!

There's no such thing as ghosts... are there? Poor abused scullery maid Alice makes a plea "I wish you were here now sir" to the portrait of the Eighth Duke of Haversham (Gervase) -and suddenly there he is! Surprised to be alive, he promises to meet Alice again later and begins his hedonistic after-life, stealing food, loving women (four a night!) and causing havoc in the Tenth Duke's home. He is an unusual ghost in that he eats, loves and can make solid objects pass through walls. But back to poor Alice! After almost being raped by the "Groom of the Chambers," she calls on the Duke again and he appears in time to save her. Then he whisks her off to a secret room where he comes up with the idea of making her into a lady. Dressing her, teaching her French to cover her accent and gathering buried jewels he remakes her into the Comtesse de la Valle-Chenevix. Alice is Cinderella to a specter "Godmother." She even gets to go to the ball - well a masquerade.

Gervase wants her off his hands and married. Acting as her Uncle, he sets her up in London with a companion who paves the way among the ton. Then back to his former estate to write his memoirs. But all is not ending happy for Alice. Her piteous call to him results in saving her from an unsavory fiancée. Then she is set up with a new companion and a new love interest quite different from the first ones. Is this the end? What of the love she still harbors for her handsome ghost? I shall leave you to read the ending for intrigue and trouble still follow our hapless heroine. And what is the story behind the strange new companion? Can a dead man love again?

Spellbinding story! This is worth reading because it is so unusual - and ends unusual also. Also, this novel is filled with just enough trauma and wonderful romance.

I simply loved this book and have read it several times. The author did a particulrly good job of making the 18th century ghost seem foriegn but attractive in Alice's 19th century world. I thought the ghost very charming and attractive as a hero.

Paranormal romances seem to be on the up these days. The best ones can be very good, the worst ones are dire, and the average ones are - very average. This is not one of the author's best works, and is very average indeed.

The author writes romances, usually set in Regency England, under the name Marion Chesney, and alse writes murder/mystery novels such as the Agatha Raisin and Hamism Macbeth series under the name M.C. Beaton.

A number of authors have experimented with a regency romance in which one of the characters is a ghost - most often the ghost plays the part of matchmaker, but occasionally a female character falls in love with the ghost of a nobleman. This is such a story, in which a chambermaid accidentally raises the ghost of a duke and falls in love with him.

In its favour - quite funny, easy to read, and not always predictable. At one point the author appeared to be setting up the stage for a "surprise" ending consisting of two obvious but ridiculously silly elements - in fact she did manage to resist one element of the "obvious" ending.

Against - so totally implausible that it just didn't work for me.

I have read dozens of Marion Chesney Romances, and enjoyed the majority of these books, but this was not one of them.